1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mode selector mechanism for use in an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from a tape-like recording medium, and more particularly to such a mode selector mechanism which includes a mode selector lever for selecting one, at a time, of different modes of an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from a tape-like recording medium, such as a cassette tape recorder.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various cassette tape recorders that are presently available have an automatic reverse mechanism for automatically reversing a cassette tape. Usually, the cassette tape recorders are operable in one, at a time, of four operating modes including a forward playback (FWD) mode, a reverse playback (REV) mode, a fast-forward (FF) mode, and a rewinding (REW) mode. The cassette tape recorders have hub drive shafts, a magnetic head, and pinch rollers which rotate and move in different manners in those operating modes.
One type of mode selector mechanism for selecting one of the four operating modes at a time will be described below. The mode selector mechanism has a mode selector lever which can slide in response to rotation of a cam gear and stop selectively in four positions corresponding to the FWD, REV, FF, and REW modes. The mode selector mechanism also has an operating lever that can operate by being pushed by the mode selector lever. When the operating lever operates in response to sliding movement of the mode selector lever, the transmission path from the cam gear, the angular displacement of the cam gear, and the rotational speed of the cam gear are varied or switched to rotate the hub drive shafts and move the magnetic head and the pinch rollers differently depending on the operating mode that is selected.
Since switching operation of the cam gear is switched depending on the selected operating mode in response to sliding movement of the mode selector lever, the mode selector lever is required to stop highly accurately in each of the four positions corresponding to the respective operating modes. However, the mode selector lever tends to be displaced from the position where it has stopped, due to forces that are applied from the operating lever to the mode selector lever. To prevent the mode selector lever from being displaced off the position, it is necessary to use various mechanism components including a lock lever to lock the mode selector lever and a return spring for returning the mode selector lever. Therefore, the mode selector mechanism is relatively complex in structure, expensive owing to many parts used, manufactured in a large number of manufacturing steps, and low in reliability.